down on one's luck

Idioms  

1. Afflicted by misfortune, as in They've been down on their luck ever since they moved out West. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s]

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Example Sentences

Of course, this movie’s version of being down on one’s luck is a little different than in the rest of the world.

From Washington Times • Sep. 6, 2017

"Everybody gets blue spells—when one is down on one's luck."

From The Long Day The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself by Richardson, Dorothy

Luck′y-bag, a receptacle for lost property on board a man-of-war.—Be down on one's luck, to be unfortunate.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various

I'll bet there's any amount of men bless them—as I did—when down on one's luck.

From From Chart House to Bush Hut Being the Record of a Sailor's 7 Years in the Queensland Bush by Bryde, Charles W. L.